Price is determined by supply and demand (supply and demand include: market size, accessibility and other factors)
Increased demand and/or decreased supply = prices up.
Decreased demand and/or increased supply = prices down.
GOLD
Accepted worldwide as a store of value for thousands of years.
1) Demand: Stable - could increase rapidly with financial instability
2) Uses: coins/currency, store of value, jewelry, some industrial uses.
3) Supply: constrained but increasing with no long term limit.
Supply will continue to increase indefinitely if there's sufficient demand.
Other factors -
4) Portability: decreasing (See if you can get on a plane with a pocketful of gold)
5) Awareness/market size: Stable. Most people around the world are familiar with gold's uses and value.
6) Accessibility: Stable. Not easily accessible to everyone in the world
7) Improvements: Limited, difficult to improve. New uses, alloys, etc. are possible (especially if the price drops significantly)
8) Durability: pdd - pretty darn durable. Requires a nuclear reaction to destroy.
BITCOIN
Accepted by a relatively small number of people worldwide as a store of value for 9 years.
1) Demand: Increasing rapidly worldwide, perhaps geometrically.
2) Uses: store of value, currency (currently not an ideal currency due to variable fees and price instability).
3) Supply: constrained and decreasing in the future, with a limit of 21 million bitcoin.
Other factors -
4) Portability: Increasing (with communication tech), can be sent around the world in seconds/minutes.
5) Awareness/market size: Increasing rapidly worldwide, perhaps geometrically.
6) Accessibility: Increasing rapidly worldwide, perhaps geometrically. Anyone with a cellphone will be a potential user.
7) Improvements: Infinite - as we speak, thousands of people are working to improve it. e.g.: lightning network,...Many uses and improvements may not even have been imagined yet!
8) Durability: pd - pretty durable. A worldwide cataclysm could destroy it.
Conclusions:
In the history of the world; no currency has ever had a fixed supply, until bitcoin.
Bitcoin use has the largest potential market size of any store of value in history.
Not financial advice, jmo.
Imho, gold may go up in value in the future but it can never keep up with bitcoin's increase in value. Place your bets!!!
